This invention relates to an anchor for supporting a dental prosthesis structure, and more particularly to a dental post for insertion into a tooth canal of a tooth stub, and a support frame captured and interlocked on an upper part of the dental post which .extends upwardly from the tooth stub, being surrounded by a luting material, preferably such as a composite material to form a foundation complex for retention of a dental restoration provided thereon.
Dental posts are well known in the dental art. Teeth that have lost the coronal portion extending above the gum line through either accident, neglect or decay, in almost all instances require the removal of the nerve from the tooth canal by an endodontic obturation procedure, where the tooth canal is carefully explored and cleaned, with the apex thereof being securely sealed with an impermeable gutta percha material. Subsequent to such procedures, the tooth canal is often widened to a desired size and shape for the placement of either a prefabricated or custom cast metal dental post that will form the anchoring and supporting foundation for an artificial crown or jacket replacement.
Numerous dental posts have been suggested in the prior art. On some posts, there is provided an external thread to provide additional surface area in which the cement is received so as to improve the retention of the dental post within the tooth stub. However, though the threads formed on the prior art dental posts aid in the retention, at the same time, the threads reduce the diameter of the dental post which increases the risk of fracturing both during insertion and actual utilization of the dental post.
Though numerous dental posts for restoring teeth have been suggested in the prior art, there is no single post that presently provides the many essential elements for achieving the optimum performance thereof, such as providing a passive fit, retention resistance to horizontal shearing forces and the means for future retrieval thereof when it is necessary for re-entering the dental canal for retreatment procedures therein. Likewise, the prior art dental posts are presently missing the means of being able to accomplish such procedures aesthetically and economically, without utilizing the necessary costly laboratory technical procedures and multiple office visits. Therefore, there is a need for a dental post whose installation can be easily accomplished in a one-visit chairside procedure in a most economical manner, which is passively secured in the tooth canal to be compatible in form with natural root canal morphology, which has a strong supporting transverse structure and provides the major advantages of function, retention and reversibility, and which satisfies the major requirements of aesthetics, serviceability and economy.